Mumbai: Developers land Chembur colony in power trouble

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The residents of Siddharth Colony in Chembur, whose electricity supply was cut off by Reliance yesterday over pending dues of Rs 63 crore, are caught in a strange predicament.

The developers, to whom they had given their land for a Slum Rehabilitation Scheme in 2005, had promised to pay all their power bills, but do not seem to have kept their promise. With the result that Reliance, on Tuesday, cut off power supply to the colony at 11 am. Supply was restored only at 9.40pm after mediation by politicians.

Mahendra Bhole, an activist and resident, said Union Minister of State Ramdas Athawale finally intervened and sought three months for arrears to be cleared. The colony is a maze of slums off eastern express highway with a large number of shops, houses and stalls of political parties. Industry sources said Reliance Energy staff had even been stopped from reading meters and distributing monthly bills in the area.

A resident, Vishal More, told mid-day that they were ready to pay the forthcoming bills, but not the outstanding amount. "The company should have cut our supply within the first three months in 2005-06. Our developers and Reliance should sort this out without troubling us," said More. mid-day could not independently verify who the developers were.

According to industry sources, on August 23, 2017, Reliance had received post-dated cheques of Rs 48.5 crore from the developers, out of which cheques of only Rs 10.5 crore were honoured.